GOP leaders mark fiscal New Year with tax warning

By Russell Berman - 10/01/12 12:16 PM ET

Republican leaders offered a dour warning to taxpayers as they marked the beginning of fiscal 2013: Your taxes are about to go up, and President Obama is to blame.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his top lieutenants issued coordinated statements on Monday that criticized Democrats for tax increases set to take effect in exactly three months if Congress doesn’t act.

“Due to President Obama’s failure to lead, small-business owners stand to see their taxes go up in three months’ time, a sucker punch that would cost our economy more than 700,000 jobs,” Boehner said in his statement. “Also looming is the president’s ‘sequester,’ which poses a serious threat to our national security and is set to take effect on January 2. Only Republicans have offered and acted on a plan to stop these threats to our economy and national security.”

Fiscal 2012 ended Sunday.

Both the House and Senate have already recessed for the election, meaning lawmakers will not act to avert the "fiscal cliff" of sudden tax increases and budget cuts until mid-November at the earliest. Boehner cited, as he has before, a study from Ernst & Young projecting that tax increases resulting from the expiration of the George W. Bush-era tax rates would cost the economy 700,000 jobs.

Economists have said the combination of tax increases and automatic spending cuts could send the U.S. back into recession in 2013 if they take effect.

Obama wants to extend current tax rates for the middle class but has vowed to veto any legislation that extends rates for top earners.

“The House has taken bipartisan action to prevent our economy from going over the fiscal cliff. We have passed legislation to ensure taxes aren’t raised on any American while also protecting our national security in a turbulent world,” said House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the third-ranking Republican. “However, we cannot avert another economic downturn unless the President and Senate Democrats stop their political posturing and work together with us.”